No sound recorded in mono, only one side in stereo

Hi everyone. I just got a Focusrite Itrack solo to record with, and for some reason the guitar that I try to record isn’t working.

My device is listed in the playback and recording areas and is selected in both, but whenever I record one of two things happens…

-If I record in mono, the result is a blank track with nothing on it.

-If I record in stereo, the track I recorded plays, but only through one headphone. It’s like it just recorded on one side. (And yes, my balance is set where it should be).

I carefully followed the instructions here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer_Toolbar_Issues#vistacp but still have absolutely no luck in getting something recorded.

My Itrack solo is the default playback and recording device in Windows 7 like it should be

It doesn’t matter if I use MME or Windows DirectSound. The result is always the same. I would really love to use my new usb audio interface, but can’t get it to work. Everything sounds perfectly fine in the headphones, I just can’t get it to record what I’m playing. Any help would be great. I’m dying to record and really want to get this laptop to be my recording computer permanently as the desktop I have been recording on for years records a ton of crackle on top of my recorded tracks.

Thanks and stuff.

I feel like this has got to be a settings issue in either Audacity or Windows 7, just not sure what I can try next. I’m honestly not even sure if I should be recording in Mono or Stereo, I have always used mono in the past.

This would seem expected to me. The guitar is presumably the Right channel.

When you record with Audacity set to stereo, use the Track Drop-Down Menu to Split Stereo to Mono, then click the on the upper track to close it. Then the recorded guitar track will play through both sides.

If Audacity could record as two mono tracks you would not have the problem. Doing that may or may not be possible if you were to compile Audacity with ASIO support, but it is quite a bit of work to do that.

I don’t think it will make any difference to your issue, but make sure you have installed the driver from http://uk.focusrite.com/ipad-audio-interfaces/itrack-solo/downloads.


Gale

You sir, are a genius.

Seriously though, thank you for coming up with a perfect work-around for this issue. It’s a bit of a bother to have to do this with every track when I record, but the important thing is that it gets me recording again. I have no idea why I didn’t think of what you suggested.

I’d still like to know a better fix and an explanation of what’s going on, but until then this gets me back in business.

Thank you!

You could either compile Audacity with ASIO Audio Interface support as I suggested, or try compiling it with this patch: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/wip-enhancing-multichannel-fix-single-channel-recording/28626/1

The basic “problem” is that Audacity sees the left and right channels of a two-channel interface as parts of a stereo pair. There is currently no way to make it see those as independent mono channels or to tell it to only record track 2 of 2.

So it’s a “feature request”.


Gale